A FABRICATION business that has benefited from booming demand from the oil and gas sector will create 50 jobs in its drive to increase sales by one third to £30m. Wilton Engineering Group, based at the old Swan Hunter shipbuilding yard at Port Clarence, near Middlesbrough, has quadrupled staff numbers to 200 over the last three years. It is expecting to create an additional 50 jobs over the next three years to keep pace with demand. The business, which began in Hartlepool as a jobbing steel fabricator 12 years ago, now has three divisions – Wilton Engineering, Wilton Marine Structures and Universal Paint, with combined sales of £17m. Wilton Engineering and Wilton Marine Structures director Steven Pearson said: “Over the last three years it has been the oil and gas sector that has driven growth. “The demand for offshore underwater structures has increased as oil and gas companies, particularly in the existing fields of the North Sea, continue to build infrastructure, including pipework and protective coverings for valves (which are relatively delicate and under duress) at the well heads on the sea bed.” In the last 12 months Wilton Marine, which specialises in subsea structures, has experienced dramatic growth, doubling in size to £6m. Wilton Engineering, the founding business which makes vessels, pipework and some offshore structures, has grown by a third to £9m as has Universal Paint, the industrial paintings and coatings division, reaching £2m. The company moved from Hartlepool to its current 30-acre site at Clarence Port in August last year, and has since invested several million pounds developing it. Mr Pearson said: “Since we moved to Middlesbrough we substantially increased the capacity of the business. We now have four large fabrication plants including provision for pipework, exotic materials and cutting and preparation works, a substantial paint shop and offices.” The business was launched by founding directors Bill Scott and Steve Glenn, who eight years ago launched the Universal Paint business followed seven years ago by Wilton Marine Structures. Mr Pearson said: “We are expecting the oil and gas sector to continue to boom over the next three years as demand for fossil fuel reserves is not going away.” The jobs will include white collar project engineers and office management roles, together with large numbers of skilled labour, including platers and welders for the shop floor. He said: “It used to be the case that for big jobs you would have to recruit large numbers of people on short-term contracts who would then not have a job at the end of the project. “But over the last three years work has been coming in constantly, supporting increased numbers of permanent jobs.” | 
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